As urban-affairs minister he would head into the banlieues, and shout at those who watched him from behind closed windows. “Come on down. And I’ll tell you what the plan is”
Stepping onto the stage, he swayed gently to the beat. His three-piece was more a costume than a suit: the jacket a little boxy, the plum square peaking out of his pocket like a tongue in search of a kiss. His tie gleamed pearly-pink, and his buoyant chestnut hair shone brighter than Julio Iglesias’s. He closed his eyes and stretched out an arm. “J’aurais voulu être un artiste,” he crooned.
To some he was Robin Hood in a blazer, to others a short-trousered Antichrist. A born ringleader, he was often in trouble. Later he would boast of having an engineering degree, but he barely finished high school. He wanted to be Jean Gabin, star of the Moulin Rouge and lover of Marlene Dietrich. This, the boy from the wrong side of the tracks, poured his energy into getting gigs singing at clubs while sellings on the side.
Success brought him to the attention of bankers, politicians and opportunists. Sport, with television, was the new nexus of power, not only in France but wherever young men and women hungered for a different kind of hero. Backed by his bank, state-owned Crédit Lyonnais, he bought Adidas, a sports-shoe brand with a great history, but which had fallen on hard times. Within two years he had started to turn it around.
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